Friday, October 9, 2009

back from the outback

I have always wanted to visit the flinders ranges after hearing about the awesome light and escarpement so when Lach mentioned he needed to take 3 weeks leave before the end of Oct, my vote was for the outback.

Well I had never really considered the flinders the outback, and I bet alot of people who live in Central Australia may not consider it either, but geez it can be pretty remote. For nearly 3 weeks we jammed out gear into our trusty Jackaroo(aptly named hungry jack)and camped in some of the most amazing country this golden land of ours has to offer. Amazing light has greeted us, along with equally amazing dust storms so thick we couldn't see beyond the bonnet of poor jack. We've hiked till the little miss could hike no more (which in many cases was further than many adults!) , explored and investigated trees, gorges, ruins and sacred sites.

The little people have developed an afinity with "olden day houses" as the land abounds with so many ruins from broken dreams and river red gums which abound and astound us with their girth. We've nestled in their shade, cautious of their limbs which creaked and swayed. We climbed some beautiful giants and marvelled at the old "fairy trees" and their hidden treasures within their burnt out trunks.

We tried our hardest to find the stories of the original inhabitants, but sadly they were hard to come by, although we were very lucky to visit Sacred Canyon in which engravings can be found. It's a truly amazing site and my favourite place from the whole trip.

We drove for hours into a land where there was nothing to see but dirt and tufts of dry grass. A barren and remote land littered with ruins and an occasional oasis. Mazzive wedges gazed at us from alongside the road (awesome!), kangaroos of at least 3 different types; my first siting of a red in the wild, emu's abounded everywhere often with a tribe of youngsters and we were so lucky to come across a group of yellowfooted rock wallabies, awesome indeed!

3 weeks of dirt, dust and lots of flies, but it was great! Now for the washing *sigh*